Women's baseball league providing sense of community for fans

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Deanna Steyer has been a lifelong baseball fan, but her recent trip to Springfield was her first time seeing women play the game professionally.

It was also the first time her wife Leslie really took to the game, because the players represented her — too.

“It was just really moving for me to see they have a women’s league, and I told her we had to go,” Steyer said. “This game my wife was asking how they were doing things ... I love baseball. It doesn’t matter if it’s men or women. But to see the women play was getting her engaged in my favorite sport.”

The couple packed up their bags on July 31 and drove eight hours from the Tulsa, Oklahoma area up to Springfield to catch the opening game pitches of the Women's Pro Baseball League on Aug. 1.

The inaugural season marked the first professional women’s baseball competition since 1954 pitting the San Francisco Firebells, Boston Hunters, Los Angeles Queens and New York Heights against each other.

Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield was chosen for its connection to women’s sports history with the first women’s professional baseball game in 1875.

“We had some friends from Tulsa that had friends from California there, so they connected us and the second game we sat with them right behind home plate and it was a blast,” Steyer said. “Connecting with all the people was so open and fun and it didn’t matter who you were sitting by.”

Steyer recalled when she was young, after her mother divorced, she took up a roommate; the roommate was a woman who was a lifelong Yankees fan who shared her love of baseball with her that she can now share with her partner after over a decade together.

“I’m a New York fan and I’ve just always loved collecting baseball cards,” Steyer said. “I played softball when I was real little but I never had the opportunity to play sports. My mom worked real late hours so I couldn’t play.”

The creation of women's pro leagues in sports has placed more visibility LGBT players, which has been a welcome sight for people in the queer community.

Steyer had seen a post first on Facebook for the WPBL back in July near her birthday in an LGBT group with the header "Batter up, Lesbians", so Steyer reposted it.

Her mother, who struggles with her identity as a lesbian, had responded asking why it had to be lesbians, and why couldn’t straight women too?

Women’s sports are inclusive from the start, created for women to professionally participate in historically male-dominated sports industries not funding women’s sports. Marginalized groups create a collective strength instead of through numbers, through support networks to work against systemic advantages.

Women’s sports tend to uplift all women, including women who identify as queer, giving them a place to feel seen and understand the marginalization women on the field said.

And when people feel seen, they come out.

“Well you totally miss the point, because that’s what it is about too,” Steyer said. “At the game on Saturday there were many straight couples but at least two-thirds were not. .. They exist whether you want them to or not. They’ve just not been allowed to be out and talking about it before.”

The visibility has not always been the case and still is not for many athletes. In 2025, Indiana Fever player Sophie Cunningham played against the Phoenix Mercury.

A sex toy was hurled into the court hitting Cunningham by a group of meme coin crypto enthusiasts, and was not a sole incident through the 2025 season for the WNBA, which has a higher number of queer players.

In 2021, the International Olympic Committee issued a new framework of guidelines to encourage the inclusion and safety of all athletes and their right to participate without fear of discrimination or harm.

However, there are still stereotyping issues in women's pro sports, especially the WNBA revolving around speculation of which players may by queer, potentially hurting a player's reputation at home and being incorrect at the same time.

“More and more women are breaking out into things like these sports and women should be allowed to do things like men (without pushback),” Steyer said. “I feel the same way about marriage. Having a wife has nothing to do about you having a husband.”

Creating a space where marginalized communities to celebrate has helped people from all backgrounds visit Springfield, picking up a new hobby along the way like Cristopher Marc Soriano, who came from Fremont, California and said he picked up baseball scoring at the WPBL better than any attempt at watching an MLB game.

Cyndi Brandt of Lewes, Delaware has already made the 14 hour drive once before to Springfield with her wife but for the finale on Sept. 6, she took the trip again.

“I don't even care which teams make it,” Brandt said. “I just want to soak up the atmosphere and be part of WPBL history.”

The WPBL inaugural season ended on Sept. 6 with the postseason running through Sept. 22.